Chapter 5: Looking for Answers
After Fredi told G and Ozzie about waking up in a different alley and then fighting the gang of animatronics, they entered the room G went into earlier to talk between themselves. The only thing Fredi didn't mention was Glenn, because he feared they might think he was a malfunctioning animatronic and possibly kill him with the gun.
"I'm not sure if you can trust the kid," Glenn said, appearing on the couch where G sat during the Fazbear Policy Test. "The fat guy seems more excited than terrified by your presence. But the kid…I think he's hiding something."
"That's what I think too," Fredi agreed, then he noticed Glenn now had pale-yellow rabbit ears sticking out from the sides of his head. "Since when did you have rabbit ears?"
"Oh, these?" Glenn used the tips of his fingers to feel the edges of the soft-looking ears. "They just appeared while we were talking."
"Why didn't you have them before?"
"Maybe it's symbolic of you coming to terms with what you are."
"So you also believe I'm an animatronic, even though that test was vaguely defined?"
"Yes, I would agree the parameters of what separates a human from an animatronic were not clear. But not having a pulse and being revived by a charging station instead of CPR are difficult pieces of evidence to refute."
"But I bleed like a human, and felt strong emotions like anger during the earlier fight. Are you saying none of those things were real because I'm a machine?"
"Hey!" G shouted from the other room. "Keep it down out there. We're trying to think. Just shut up and turn on the TV or something."
Fredi said nothing in response, and looked around. There was a flatscreen TV to his left, with a remote on the coffee table. So he did as G asked and turned on the TV. It was a news channel covering a story about a mayor candidate, who was a beautiful woman with silver-blonde hair that had a green streak in it. According to the newscaster, the candidate's name was Roxana Lupine. But upon staring at Roxana, Fredi had an image flash in his mind of four individuals breaking into an apartment he was in with Roxana being one of them.
But unlike the red suit jacket and skirt she was wearing on the TV, she wore a red top with black short-shorts and black stockings with leather shoes. She also had sharp green nails, which she used to cut Fredi's lip. Then a young man with long red hair blocked Fredi's way and told him to get away, forcing Fredi to retreat with the purple-haired guy from the previous memory. And after he and the purple-haired guy went into a bedroom, the memory faded.
"I know that woman," Fredi said to Glenn, pointing at Roxana. "She and some friends of hers attacked me, and two other people I was with. But I don't know why they attacked, or who the other people in my memory were."
"You could always ask Roxana herself," Glenn suggested.
"Are you crazy?" Fredi exclaimed. "There's no way I could just walk up to a mayoral candidate and casually ask her about the time she attacked me."
"I think you're smarter than you give yourself credit for. You'll figure something out."
Turning his attention back to the newscast, Fredi noticed Roxana was doing a meet-and-greet today at the local racetrack. So after Fredi memorized the address onscreen, he realized he was no longer barefooted and now wore a pair of brown army boots. Fredi guessed that Ozzie put them on while he was recharging, and feeling grateful for them he left the living room through the front door. Outside, he found himself on a quiet street that was far away from the center of the city. He looked at the map that Map Bot gave him, and was able to make his way over to the racetrack without too much difficulty.
At the entrance to the racetrack was a large group of reporters and civilians with a line of cops surrounding the front door. So Fredi made his way around the chainlink fence until he found a hole in the section that ran through a park next to the racetrack, which was cleverly hidden by a pile of old leaves. Using his brute strength, Fredi pried the hole open wide enough for him to slip through. Then he snuck around the track until he came to a door that led him up a flight of stairs and into the security room.
Inside, there was one tired-looking security guard. Upon seeing Fredi, he was startled and stood up from his seat. He then reached for his nightstick, but Fredi quickly punched the guard in the face knocking him to the ground. Before the guard could recover, Fredi took his handcuffs and placed them on the guard's hands. Fredi also took a handkerchief from the guard's shirt pocket and used it as a gag.
"I'm sorry, but I really need to use the cameras to look for someone," Fredi said to the confused guard and got up.
While the guard struggled to get out of his handcuffs, Fredi looked at the various monitors in the security room. On one monitor, he saw Roxana walking down a hallway with an escort consisting of robots that had security guard hats and badges on them.
"Those robots look similar to the Map Bot we ran into earlier," Fredi noted, glancing at Glenn who was standing next to him.
"Yes, they do," Glenn agreed, then he paused while holding his head. "I think they might be from the same model of robot that was called a STAFF Bot."
"STAFF Bot?" Fredi paused. "Why does that sound familiar?"
"I'm not sure, but I remember there was a place that had similar robots called the…pizzaplex?"
"Pizzaplex?" Fredi's face lit up. "Maybe you're remembering Freddy Fazbear's Mega Pizzaplex, the Fazbear location Ozzie mentioned earlier."
"Of course! That makes sense. If Fazbear specializes in making animatronics, they would naturally make regular robots for their locations as well. But since the fat man referred to the pizzaplex as an 'expensive loss,' it wouldn't surprise me if the pizzaplex was shut down."
Fredi looked at the map of the city again and shook his head. "You might be right, since there doesn't seem to be a pizzaplex on the map. That doesn't explain why the STAFF Bots would be still around, though."
"Could be a way of saving money if those robots were still in good working condition," Glenn suggested. "They probably sold the bots to different companies to recuperate some of their losses. And speaking of losses, we should catch up to Roxana before she attends the meet-and-greet session."
Looking back at the monitor, Fredi saw Roxana was heading toward a bend in the hallway. Then looking at the map of the racetrack next to the monitors, he was able to figure out where she was in relation to him. So he left the security room with Glenn following alongside as they raced to catch up to Roxana.
To be continued…
